The world of dairy together

I really enjoyed the week in France, visiting the Jura region to see how PDO Comté and Morbier cheeses are made, from cow to curd to cheese affineur. There is probably nothing more engrossing that seeing the actual animals that produce such magnificent cheeses, and all the work that goes into the end product, with turning the curds into the moulds, then scrubbing and making sure the cheeses mature into the delicious end products. They are rural enterprises and it’s nice to see the mountain economy that is supported by the livestock farming and production of cheeses native to the region. Many thanks to Centre National Interprofessionnel de l’Economie Laitière (Cniel), the French dairy interbranch organisation for organising the trip to the mountains and the rest of the week at the IDF World Dairy Summit in Paris. (https://www.filiere-laitiere.fr/fr/les-organisations/cniel)

They were not only getting us to and from the mountains, they were also organising the summit with the rest of the sponsors, and so a trip to fellow sponsor Danone’s research centre was also accomplished on the same journey. It is so very interesting to see how the products we enjoy every day start their process to the shelf. The research and development centre in Saclay, outside of Paris, was an engrossing experience for us all.

Much credit to their public relations agency, Hopscotch, for the international journalist wrangling. They definitely put in the hours on this trip, along with the hairnets.

Finally, it was fabulous to see Dr Judith Bryans out and about at the summit, looking great. It seemed to be a proper convening of former IDF presidents, as Jim Begg also made an appearance. Great to catch up with them all, and to also see Ian Wakeling and Peter Dawson from the Dairy UK group. As Judith said, coming to the World Dairy Summits is like coming home. That is definitely a sentiment I agree with.

• Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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